The Bachelor
by quixotic raconteur
Summary: When her parents' lives are at stake, Lily Evans is forced into participating in the new reality show based on the muggle show 'The Bachelor.' The twist? She can only have one thing: the love of her life or the money needs to ensure her parents’ safety.
1. Chapter 1

Quick A/N: I just changed my pen name. No freaking out and reporting this story, please.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters associated with it. I do, however, own Tatiana and Bella's personality/description along with the plot of this story. I don't own the show For Love or Money, but this fic is not based entirely on the show. Only the idea of choosing between love and money comes from that show. I think that's about it. Enjoy!

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_It was really lucky that I had come by that box while cleaning out my closet in preparation for the "big move" as I had called it. I had been transferred to another hospital, where Charm Specialists were scarce. It was a normal-sized shoebox with a crimson red lid and a beige "body" I suppose. I had gotten it as a present from some of my classmates as a joke, but that wasn't the important part. What laid inside that gift had surprised me and really made me wake up to reality._

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A red-haired witch rummaged through her closet, folding clothes and packing them away into boxes that would be later shipped to her friend's flat. She had been transferred over to St. Mungo's because of her skills in charms. They had been lacking in the Charms Department lately, and with an insane wizard named Voldemort on the loose, she knew she had to go.

A lot had changed since she graduated from Hogwarts. She was no longer "the girl with the muggle braces." She had a very nice smile, but still kept her glasses. Contacts were too much of a hassle to put in, so she kept them for ultra-special occasions. She wasn't fat, but she wasn't slim either; she was somewhat round, but not by much. A few zits dotted her forehead, and a bit of skin was peeling on her nose from a sunburn. Her wavy red hair was cropped shoulder-length, and freckles dusted her nose. Lily Grace Evans was nowhere near beautiful, but she was comfortable. If there was one thing that never changed since she left Hogwarts, it would be the fact that she was still very introverted and valued comfort over everything else.

As she packed away the last of her winter clothes, a box at the far corner of the small closet caught her eye. It was small with a crimson red lid and a beige box. Her eyes widened in surprise. She thought she had gotten rid of that a long time ago.

Slowly, she crawled to where the box innocently lay. Her trembling hands lifted the cover off, as if she were afraid to find what she thought was inside. At the first sight of the contents of the box, a tear slipped from her right eye. She had forgotten it was here. Tatiana must have hid it there after she had ordered the box to be burned.

"Lils! Come on! How much more do you have to pack?"

A petite Chinese girl rounded the corner, eyes shining with a mix of annoyance and excitement. A pair of jeans hung loosely on her waist and a dusty pink t-shirt covered her torso. Her hair was cut short, almost like a boy's, and black-rimmed glasses covered her dark brown eyes. Those eyes fell on her friend, who was motionless, holding the crimson lid of the shoebox limply.

"Lily?"

"I thought I told you to burn this," Lily replied in a soft voice. Tatiana, affectionately called Ana from time to time, crossed the room and knelt down by her friend, one arm around the redhead's shoulder in comfort. In the box were all the letters James had ever written to Lily, whether he sent them or not. After the "Seventh Year Incident" as they had called it, Tatiana and their other friend, Arabella, manage to collect all the letters from James and put them into a box. When Lily found out, she told them to burn it. She didn't want to think about James anymore. She didn't want to remember him, or the history they had.

"Lils, destroying your past wouldn't help you any. We were young-reckless even. I didn't want you to regret burning these. I just-oh, Lily."

Tatiana took the lid from her friend, closed the box, and tucked it under her arm while straightening herself. "Come on, Lils. Let's get your junk over to my flat and we'll have one of those crazy pyjama parties where we can do some reminiscing. I'll call up Bella and it'll be like old times again. What do you say?"

The redhead sighed and nodded. After all, it was about time she put everything behind her. HIS memory haunted her every night before she went to bed. Whenever she was scared, she remembered being in his embrace. Whenever she was happy, she would remember his laugh. Yes, it would be for the best if they got this talk over with-this one talk that she had been dreading since their graduation from Hogwarts.

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James Michael Potter flopped face-first into his bed. After a 48-hour shift at the Auror headquarters, he was ready to turn off the light and be dead to the world for the next eight hours. That, however, would not happen if Sirius Allen Black was his flatmate. Unfortunately for James, he did indeed have a flatmate named Sirius Allen Black.

"JAAAAAMSIE-POO! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME!" shouted Sirius, bouncing onto James's bed causing James to bounce up and down uncomfortably due to the energy from Sirius's jump. The tired man groaned and motioned with his hand for Sirius to go away. He really was not in the mood for Sirius's cheerfulness. Moody had threatened James to take a break or get fired.

"You'll hurt more people in your state! Take a month off for break, Potter. You've worked overtime for too many hours. Actually, you've been working all the crazy hours AND your normal hours. Your body can't take more of this. Go home. Sleep. Rest. If I see one inch of your hide in this department tomorrow, you can be assured that it will be kicked out. Good day, Mr. Potter," said James, voice muffled in the pillow.

"Yeah, well, Moody's a pain in the ass. You'll never guess what happened!"

James turned over onto his back. "You just said that."

"Oh...well, then, GUESS!"

"You're leaving the room so you can leave me in peace?"

Sirius grinned and shook his head. "Nope! Guess again!"

"You're shaving your head and becoming a monk."

"No."

"You decided to impersonate Snape and wreck havoc upon Hogwarts."

"No, but good idea. Maybe we'll do that next week."

"I don't know, Sirius. What happened to you? Did you finally decide to grow a brain?"

"I GOT CHOSEN TO BE A BACHELOR!"

"Sirius," James said, rolling his eyes, "You're already a bachelor. Now leave me alone and let me sleep!"

"No, I meant a bachelor on television!"

"Television? What in Merlin's name is that!"

"Oh, you know, the muggle box with moving pictures. We watched one at Evans's one summer, remember? Anyway, it's not actually going to be muggle-it's the wizard version of it! You know those really spiffy hologram devices that came out recently? It's kind of like the floo network where people's heads pop out of nowhere, except you can see the setting and people's bodies. This show is going to promote them!"

"How exciting, Sirius. Is that all?"

"No...well...you see...I...er... kind of registered under your name and everything..."

Sirius twisted his hands, waiting for James's reaction. He didn't have to wait long.

"You WHAT!" shouted James, shooting up from his formerly comfortable position into a sitting one.

"I registered under your name! So technically, you're the bachelor. Aren't you going to thank me? You're gonna meet tons of hot women and walk off with one of them!"

James groaned, running a hand through his already messy brown hair. "Sirius...you are a dead man...as soon as I have the energy to strangle you."

"Awww...come on James! They're paying you five thousand galleons to be on there! You've got to live a little! Get out more! You've been so into your job that you barely date anyone! I'm beginning to think that you're gay."

"If I were gay, you would be in deep trouble, wouldn't you?

Sirius gave James The Look.

James sighed. "I know, Sirius. You're right. Maybe this would be for the best. After all, a little money can't hurt anyone. Merlin knows we need it. You would think Moody would pay us a bit more..."

"Knew you would come around, mate! Taping starts in three days. The show's called...funny, they never told me the name. No matter, they DID say they were basing it on the muggle show 'The Bachelor.' Better get packing!"

"Wait...it starts in three days...DOES MOODY GIVING ME A BREAK HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS?"

"Er...see, Remmy kind of went to Moody and campaigned for your release for a month to do this..."

"Sirius Allen Black, you are SO dead."

And thus began the chase that would lead to Sirius sprouting a pink beard like Dumbledore's with six arms and jelly-fish legs.

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Two figures stood in the shadows with the moon as the only source of light.

"Is everything in order?"

"Yes. We're carrying it out tonight. You know of the show, yes?"

"Of course. Make sure he stays deluded. If all goes well, he'll be a broken man for the rest of his life. Then, we will be able to stop the future from beginning."

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"So then, I strung spider webs all around his bed. That scream in the morning was the sweetest thing I've ever heard!"

Lily and Bella felt the giggles overpower them. It was too much! Who would have known that the great, fearless Sirius Black was afraid of spiders!

Arabella-more commonly called Bella-was a tall girl with long, brown hair and pale blue eyes. She looked like the model she was, but she enjoyed herself more with Lily and Ana than she did with all the other models she worked with. As a clothing designer, she made sure her two best friends were up to date on the latest fashions, sometimes even designing them clothes to fit their personal tastes.

The three girls were sitting on Tatiana's living-room floor, complete with fluffy pillows and sleeping bags. Popcorn littered the room, and an empty ice cream box sat on the kitchen counter. Tatiana pulled out the box of letters that was formerly under her pillow and began filing through it, smiling at some and frowning at others.

"So, Lils, how exactly did you and Potter meet? I knew you guys knew each other before Hogwarts, but where?" asked Bella, watching Tatiana grin at one of the letters. That grin suddenly turned a giant smile. Lily quickly saw Tatiana's face and pounced on the box of letters, clutching it to her chest protectively. She was blushing so hard that her face was a close match to her hair color.

"Ana, these are private! Especially that one!"

"Yeah, I wonder why..."

"Tatiana!"

"Lilyyyyyyyyyy...you never answered my question!" whined Bella.

"Sorry, what?"

The brown-haired girl rolled her eyes. "I asked where you met Potter. It was obvious that you knew him before Hogwarts."

A look of nostalgia crossed Lily's features. She smiled slightly at the memory while playing with a strand of hair.

"We met at Latin Academy. We were six then..."

**flashback**

Six-year-old Lily Evans walked into her Latin class, which was held every Saturday from 2-4 pm. It seemed odd that parents would force kids to learn a dead language at such a young age, but the Evans' believed that by expanding their daughter's horizon along with her vocabulary, Lily would be able to attain more self-expression and overall knowledge. After all, many concepts about the world could trace its roots back to the Greek and Roman times. Unfortunately, they seemed to have forgotten that Lily wasn't but six-years-old, and therefore could not comprehend why Lily found "Saturday school" to be completely pointless, boring, and well, pointless. What would she do with a dead language anyway? Kill it some more, destroy all the Latin manuscripts, and pray that the small pieces she ripped them into wouldn't come back together again? There really wasn't much to do with such a language-that, and the teacher wouldn't teach them any cuss words that they could use on their siblings. How BORING.

She also disliked the people in her class immensely. There were maybe fifteen of them, all bouncing around and acting hyper, while she herself sat in the far corner of the room, away from all of them and the hyperactivity that was rather apparent. Her small hands fiddled around with her pencil as she waited patiently for her teacher to enter the room. Lily was rather annoyed at the behavior of her classmates-whether it was because she attended a private school or because she simply could not deal with overly sugar-happy children shall not be discussed. At any rate, her perfectly braided pigtails were being pulled on, and a vein could be seen popping on her forehead as she endured this torture. She smoothed her neatly pressed skirt and stood up quickly, surprising the notorious pig-tail puller.

Her stern expression as she turned around immediately wiped the laughing smile off her attacker's face. A boy with brown, wildly messy hair stared back at her, slightly surprised that she turned around so quickly. He offered her a sheepish smile as his eyes twinkled behind thin wire-rimmed glasses.

"Hey, I'm James."

Lily looked at him with disdain. His shirt was ruffled, his hair was uncombed, and there were still flecks of his lunch around the corners of his mouth. She reached into her small knapsack and pulled out a little pack of tissues. Taking one out, she handed it to the boy.

"Wipe your mouth. I'm Lily, by the way."

James did as he was told and handed her back the soiled tissue. "Thanks."

The red head's nose wrinkled as she held the tissue between her thumb and her forefinger.

"You know, normal boys throw their own tissues away."

He gave her a toothy grin. "Well, I'm not normal, am I?"

"Apparently not."

"Ahem."

Lily turned around and saw the teacher staring back at her.

"Class has started, little miss. Take your seat."

The tissue Lily was holding suddenly found itself in James's hair as she sat back down, pulling out the books she would be needing.

"Today, we will start with a quiz on the first declension. Don't forget the long marks. A point will be taken off if the long mark is not there. Is everyone clear?"

"No, ma'am. I would like to think that I'm opaque."

"Detention, Mr. Potter. Class, begin."

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"He actually told the teacher that he was opaque!" screeched Bella, doubling over with laughter.

"Yeah, he was a dunderhead."

"I'll second that."

The three girls popped a movie into the DVD player and only half-paid attention to it as they gossiped.All was going well until Bella came back from the kitchen with an impish smile.

"Oh Liiii-ly!"

"Oh Merlin, what do you want now?"

"Remember how you tried out for the new magic hologram show on a dare?"

"Perhaps..."

"And you remember how you used Ana's address?"

"Maybe..."

"What's this I see on the kitchen table?"

Tatiana stood up from her comfortable position on the floor. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep! It's from the Wizard Entertainment Network!"

The two girls squealed and handed Lily the envelope. "Open it!" they chorused.

The redhead slowly slit open the letter and skimmed over it.

"I got in," she said in a dull voice. "That's too bad. I'll just have to tell them that I can't make it. I've got work in-"

"-a month. St. Mungo's is giving you a month before you start, remember? 'To settle in,' if I remember correctly," said the Chinese girl.

"It says that the show is called 'For Love or Money.' Why?"

"I think it means that if you were the winner, you have to choose between the guy or a million galleons. Ooo...talk about a tough choice."

"This is ridiculous, guys. I'm sending them my regrets."

"But Lils-"

An owl suddenly started tapping furiously at the glass. Lily opened it and let it in. She untied the letter and watched the owl fly off into the dark night sky. The envelope was addressed to her. She slit it open and skimmed over the words, horrified.

_Miss Evans,_

_You have two weeks to round up one million galleons in return for your family. We are aware that you have been selected for the new reality show. You are to participate. We shall be contacting you at a later date with details._

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A/N: I got tired of the stories where Lily was beautiful and whatnot, so I decided to go off on a limb and include the word "zits" in her description. Ah! How blasphemous! Even so, it seems to make her more believable, does it not? I hope so. I'm working on humor, so if you have any suggestions, please leave them! I hope you like it so far! Drop me a line and tell me what you think. :)


	2. Fights, Memories, and Requirements

**3musketeers**: Thanks:)

**KC**: Me neither...I only have a really vague plan for this, so suggestions are welcome!

**Crying.Tears.of.Rain**: I love your pen name! Here's the second chapter!

Chapter Two: Fights, Memories, and Requirements

Lily's green eyes opened wide with shock. "Wha-what is this?" she cried, clutching the letter.

Bella slowly pried the letter from Lily's fingers and smoothed it out on the table, looking over it carefully.

"It's a ransom note."

"Yes, of course it is, Captain Obvious," Tatiana said, dryly.

"Lils, come on, sit down. Let's think this over. Do you or your parents have any enemies of some sort? Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?" asked Bella, guiding Lily down into a chair and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I-I don't know!"

The redhead let out a sob as Bella hugged her.

"It'll all work out, you'll see," said Tatiana, walking across the kitchen to get a glass of water. "They sent you a ransom note dictating that they want you to join the show. It's probably just a way to make sure you get onto the show...I doubt they'd hurt your parents, Lily, so don't worry too much-"

"Not worry! Tatiana, are you insane! How can I NOT WORRY! No, I'm reporting this to the ministry right now-"

"-And scare the rest of the wizarding world, not to mention cause a giant scene in the muggle world which would lead to a million memory charms and whatnot. Look, Lily, I know you think I'm in insane, but look at the note. They're holding your family over your head to get you onto this show. It doesn't seem like a real kidnaping. I mean, you know, real ones are like 'oh, I'll kill your family if you don't give me a million galleons' or something like that."

"I can't believe you just said that," said Bella, shooting a glare at Tatiana.

"I'm not trying to be unsympathetic, I'm trying to be realistic. The sooner Lily understands that this is no ordinary crazy ransom letter the better. It'll make her stop worrying-"

SLAP.

Tatiana took a step back while her hand cradled her red, stinging cheek.

"Can't you see that this is not the time for your half-assed logic! What's wrong with you!"

"Guys-" interjected Lily, quietly. The other two girls ignored her.

"I'm just saying that this doesn't seem harmful!"

"Yeah, while shoving it in Lily's face that her family's gone! Kidnaped! By some deranged lunatic!"

"Guys-"

"It's not normal!"

"How would you know! It's not like you've never had one before!"

Tatiana's eyes widened and tears began to form. Bella shot a hand over her mouth.

"Holy shit. Ana, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

Tatiana shook her head, clearing her eyes from tears and smiled slightly. "No, it's okay. Don't worry about it. They're okay."

"Oh, Ana..." the brown-haired girl said while getting up to hug her friend, "I'm sorry."

"No worries. Anyway," said the Chinese girl, brushing off the past incident, "Let's just get this over with. Whoever this is just wants Lily on the show and to win the million galleons, obviously. So we'll do just that. You're gonna knock that bachelor dead, Lils. In fact, you're gonna have to."

Lily got up slowly, squaring back her shoulders. "Let's do this," she said, quietly, eyes shining with determination, "They won't know what hit them."

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"Well?"

"No, she didn't take it well. I don't want to hurt her."

"I don't either, but it's necessary. This must not happen. We're doing it for them, remember that."

"I know. I just feel...wrong."

"They're going to hate us, you know."

There was a brief pause in the conversation.

"...I know."

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She didn't know what time it was, but she did know that it was sometime in the early morning. The sky was still dark, and her companions lay sleeping in their respective sleeping bags next to her. Lily was exhausted from the whole ordeal and dropped off immediately, and Bella soon followed after counting snitches. Ever since the start of Hogwarts, she always counted snitches.

The Chinese girl quietly picked her way around her friends and slipped out the front door, cell phone and wand in hand just in case something happened. It was a clear night-the perfect night for standing on the roof and spending time by herself. She silently took the stairs up to the roof of her flat complex. When she was finally up there, she walked up to the bars that were built there in an effort to keep people from accidently falling. A gentle breeze kissed her cheeks and flowed through her hair. She leaned on the railing, looking down onto the deserted street that was lit only with a few lamp posts.

_When did it come to this?_ she wondered, looking at her still neighborhood. _When did I start becoming so apathetic? When did I stop caring?_

Dark brown eyes swept the surroundings once more. A sigh escaped from pink, chapped lips.

It really wasn't that long ago when it happened. That note. The note that changed her and her partner's life. It had scared them so badly-but it was over now. Nothing happened.

_Was it just a dream? They said they'd kill them if we didn't pay three million galleons. It feels like it was so long ago though, when it was really only a year. They were caught and nothing happened. But still..._

Her family had gone into hiding long ago to keep it from happening again. She'd see them off and on, but not as often as she would have liked. Sometimes, she couldn't help but think that it was her fault, that if she had never started skating, none of it would have happened.

_They said that it didn't matter...that it made them happy to see me do something that made me happy...but now...now I can't do it anymore without remembering the consequences. I suppose I'm lucky to have someone like Nuo-chen, but still...we both know what happens when you start winning. People start noticing, and then they start hating, which leads to hurt. Yes, nothing good can come of winning-of being good at something. Someone always gets hurt..._

Tatiana Jia-hue Wong was the national ice skating champion with her partner Francis Nuo-chen Zhang. It was no secret that they had their feet in the door for a chance to represent Britain at the Olympics, but unfortunate circumstances arose. Many people did not like the fact that two Chinese people were going to represent a predominately white country at the Olympics, no matter how good they were. They claimed that the pair would make Britain lose on purpose in favor of China, the country their parents came from. Hate mail came through owl post and muggle post, until finally, their parents were kidnaped in the dark of night. There was a ransom note that demanded three million galleons-something that was so completely unaffordable. Banks refused them loans, and no one would donate any money. The criminals were caught a week later when the Prime Minister of Britain declared that hate mail was one thing, but threatening lives was another. Those people were behind bars now, and their parents were safe for the time being.

Just a few weeks ago, the Queen herself declared that she and Chen - as she called him - would represent the country of England at the Olympics that was to be held in Berlin, Germany, that winter. She said that a competition was a competition, and that they had won nationals and world, which was the qualifying "test" for the Olympics. Another English team would be going with them, since they placed third overall. Needless to say, England was rooting for the other team consisting of Crowne and Ashcroft.

_It's over. I shouldn't be dwelling on this._

Suddenly, Wieniawski's Scherzo-Tarentella cut through the silent air like a knife.

"Shit," Tatiana muttered, "who would be insane enough to call this late?"

She hit the receive button on her cell and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Ana, you okay?"

"Just peachy, Chen-chen. Or rather, strawberries, I suppose. Who came up with 'peachy' anyway? Why not any other fruit? Why are you calling so late...er...early in the morning?"

"Dunno. Something woke me up. Thought I'd bother you some. Why, am I interrupting something?" he teased.

Tatiana's cheek were painted a faint shade of pink. "Funny, Fran, funny. You were interrupting my thinking, if anything."

"You think?"

"Get your butt over here now."

"Why?"

"So I can kick it and shove you off the roof."

"But Anaaaaaaaaa..." he whined, "Then you won't have your devilishly handsome partner!"

"Then I'll just have to get another, won't I? Hey, I heard that there's this hot redhead on the market looking for a female partner. Hmmmm..."

"Hey! I'm not replacable!"

"No comment."

"Owtch, you wound me. So what's up?"

"Nothing, Frannie. Nothing at all."

"Hey, Hue-hue?" Francis said, voice growing serious.

"Yah?"

"Don't worry about it. They'll be fine. We'll be fine, and we'll show England who's the best skating duo, okay?"

"How-"

"Night, Ratty-Tatty-Annie. Get some sleep."

Tatiana heard the telltale beep signaling that he had hung up.

That's how it's always been between the two of them. They practically grew up together, very much like Lily and James, and somehow, he always knew when she was in trouble or just feeling down in the dumps. She knew when he would be feeling in those ways also, but she was never quite as good at guessing what was wrong.

_Hell, I can't even read his mind sometimes, but he can read mine. _

Taking one last breath of fresh air, the Chinese girl went back downstairs and promptly fell asleep.

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If anyone looked in the window to Tatiana's flat the next morning, he or she would see three girls bustling about, cleaning the mess from the night before and scrambling to go somewhere. The three girls were going to Lily's flat to help her pick out clothes, makeup, and maybe even a new hairstyle in preparation for the show. Lily's parents had always been kind to the three of them; none of them wanted to see any harm come to the Evans's.

After picking up after themselves and the random sleepover they had, the three girls apparated over to Lily's flat, where her boxes of clothes were very much raided and well...raided. Plundered. Looted. Ransacked. Pillaged. Et cetera. Bella, being the fashion model, had the most say in what Lily would be wearing, while Tatiana, once called the tom-boy queen at Hogwarts, made random comments about the choices. Once in a while, Bella's taste got too extravagant, and the Chinese girl was there to tone her down, so to speak. Lily herself was taking care of last minute details, such as paying the bills ahead of time, seeing that she wouldn't be back at her flat for a week or so. The acceptance letter for the show was sent first thing in the morning, so that was one thing off the poor redhead's mind. Soon afterwards, Tatiana handed her position as the tone-Bella-down-person to Lily and began to take some of the boxes Lily had packed back over to her house. Lily would be moving in with her, since she lived just ten or fifteen minutes away from St. Mungo's. After moving all the boxes, Tatiana began to scrub her own flat down. There had been rumors that one of the challenges would include the bachelor and some other girls visiting each of the girls' flats and houses to see how they really were at home. The Chinese girl was not naturally neat, so she had a rather long and tedious task ahead of her. but it really would not do to have dirty windows and floors.

Meanwhile, Bella was pulling out shirt after shirt to match a skirt she had found. Apparently, the gypsy style was extremely popular, and Lily owned a long, brown gypsy-like dress that had miniature bells on the side string for decoration. Bella thought that was the cutest thing she had ever seen and thus made it her life's goal to find the perfect shirt to match such an adorable skirt.

"Long dresses make girls look more feminine and sexy in their own way. I mean, the short stuff just makes you look cheap, if you get my meaning. I don't mean semi-short, which is okay, I mean short short. As in ridiculously short to the point where a person practically moons the general public and scars children's lives. This dress is perfect! It's flowy, light, and...ugh! I can't describe it!"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Bella, my dear, it's a dress. End of story. Don't butcher it."

"Me? Butcher something of such perfection? How blasphemous! That would be like...I dunno...chopping up the most beautiful man in the world into little pieces and feeding them to my ducks!"

"Since when did you have ducks? I want one!" cried Tatiana from the kitchen after apparating back to Lily's for yet another box. Some of her stuff just had to go into storage until she found a new flat.

"God, she has insane hearing," muttered Bella while rifting through more clothes.

"I heard that!"

"Lils, you need a new bathing suit."

"What? Why? What's wrong with this one!" asked the redhead, standing up immediately from her place on the bed.

"Umm...Lils? It's falling apart. That, and you can't go on tv wearing an old bathing suit! It's simply...not done!"

Lily growled. "It's a good bathing suit, nonetheless."

"Yes, if you wanna work out and swim two million laps a day. No wonder why your hair gets random blonde streaks in the summer! It's the chlorine! How many times do I have to tell you that it's going to make all your hair fall out one day!"

"Yeah, yeah, it's not like you don't dye yours."

"We're going to the mall tomorrow. End of story."

"Time? Place?"

"Eh...12:30. In front of the GAP?"

"Can't. I've got practice. Can you guys start without me?" asked Tatiana, coming into Lily's bedroom after having finished her cleaning spree.

"Yeah. When are you free?"

"After one. I'll call."

"Kay. Sounds good. Hey, there's an owl at the window. Think they're directions for the you-know-what?"

"Hm? Let me see."

Lily walked over to the window and opened it, allowing the owl to fly in. Gently, she untied the letter from its leg and watched it fly back out the window.

"What does it say?" asked Bella, gripping the chair her was standing behind tightly.

"Dear Miss Evans," the redhead read aloud, "Hopefully you have sent in your acceptance letter by now. In seeing that the beginning of the show will take place in just two days, we have decided to inform you of the detail we require.

"First, you will be going under the name of Evelyn Wednesday Addams-"

"-Addams' Family?"

"Apparently...moving on..and you are not allowed to reveal your true name to anyone. If someone suspects, deny. You are to remain under this alias for the duration of the show. Secondly, the bachelor must fall completely in love with you. Remember, if you want your family back safe and sound, you must win. Finally, you are to disclose this to no one at the show. They must believe that you are simply there to love the bachelor. That is all.

"We will be in touch with you at a later time, perhaps even during the show. Good luck, and stick to our requirements. Good day to you, Miss Evans."

Lily stopped talking and creased the letter in half.

"Well, you know..." started Tatiana, looking at the floor, "...that sounded almost...friendly."

"Odd, don't you think, Lils?" asked Bella, who had relaxed after hearing the word choice in the letter. There was nothing really threatening in there and almost seemed light hearted. One of the kidnappers must have liked the Addams' Family very much.

"Yeah, odd. You were right, Ana. It doesn't sound real. Let's just get this over with."

The girls talked for a little while longer and finally left. Bella had a photoshoot to get to, and Tatiana had a few errands to run, one of which was renting a storage space for Lily's furniture. This left Lily alone in her room, a stack of clothes sitting on the floor in a neat, folded piled and a few boxes that had been thoroughly rummaged through. She sighed. Sometimes it was nice to have friends who were always there for her.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"And that's a wrap! Great job, Bella. We'll see you in a few days after the pictures get developed. They look great!"

The model nodded and smiled. She hated photoshoots, but it came with the job description. She hated how everyone in her agency acted so fake towards her. She knew that they thought she was stupid. When they were around her, they used small vocabulary words and almost talked in a childish tone. The stereotype would always shroud her true personality. Honestly, who would believe that a model was actually smart? That would be scandalous. Beautiful people were not meant to be smart, apparently. They were supposed to simply look pretty, attract hot men, and were supposedly good lays. Bella had her fair share of men, but it didn't mean that she was overly promiscuous and shagged every man she'd ever met.

She sighed and changed out of the summer sundress she had been modeling and into a polo shirt and shorts. The sundress was cute, fetch, and something she herself would have liked to buy. It amazed her that the company she was modeling for actually incorporated a more modest design this year; apparently, the great hype about showing off as much skin as possible had begun to decline and there was a resurgence of classic feminine beauty. Although Bella herself didn't have a problem with revealing clothes, she had received many lectures from her favorite Chinese friend about how they made her look cheap and very much like the stereotypical easy model.

"Bella. A word, please?"

The brunette snapped out of her thoughts and looked up. In front of her stood the photographer who had been taking her pictures before. He was a man in his late twenties with blonde hair and light blue eyes flecked with white in some areas. He was lean and muscular, but he didn't seem to be very assertive.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to tell you that you did great today. Really. I've never met a more charming model."

"Well...thank you, I guess."

"I was...erm...wondering if you wanted to...ah...go out for coffee?"

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, I guess. I didn't quite catch your name..."

"Pettigrew. Peter Pettigrew."

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter was rather boring...it was more of a filler chapter and kind of a background on Tatiana and Bella. Lily's background will be revealed in the later chapters, so I didn't think it would be appropriate to incorporate it here. I'm sorry James didn't show up in this chapter, but I assure you that he will be in the next one! Did anyone notice the Mean Girls reference in there? A cookie to everyone who did!

What's coming up:

The opening ceremony

meeting of more random people

and of course, Sirius pops in

Leave me a review! Hope you like it so far!

P.S. Are my characters too Mary-Sue-ish? I really don't want them and I'm trying to make them seem more human, but they're not coming out that way-at least not to me. They sound so...idealized and I don't know how to fix it. Help, please?


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